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2023 Chevrolet Silverado HD reportedly getting mammoth torque

Chevrolet just gave the light-duty Silverado a significant round of updates. It hasn't detailed the changes it has in store for the heavy-duty model yet, but a recent report claims the truck will arrive with significant engine upgrades. Without citing sources, website TFL Truck reported that the current pickup's 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel V8 will return in the updated model. Its displacement won't increase, but its output will reportedly grow to 505 horsepower and a mammoth 1,085 pound-feet of torque. To put those figures into perspective, the 6.6-liter makes 445 horsepower and 910 pound-feet of twist in the 2022 Silverado HD; GMC's Sierra HD is available with it as well. Bumping the Duramax's output is a way to keep up with the competition. Arch nemesis Ford offers buyers who have extremely heavy things to tow 475 horsepower and 1,050 pound-feet of torque from a 6.7-liter turbodiesel V8. Over at Ram, the most powerful engine available in a heavy-duty truck posts numbers of 420 and 1,075, respectively. If the report is accurate, Chevrolet will enviably take the horsepower and the torque crowns in the segment. What remains to be seen is what effect the increases will have on the Silverado's towing capacity. As of writing, it's capable of towing up to 36,000 pounds (approximately 15 times the weight of a 2021 Mazda MX-5 Miata). Moving out of the engine bay, the 2023 Silverado HD will receive an updated exterior design that will again help differentiate it from the smaller, light-duty model. We're expecting the next round of updates will also bring new tech features, and it's reasonable to assume that the trim structure will evolve; Chevrolet might notably shift the HD in a more outdoorsy direction to satisfy a growing demand for off-road-focused trucks in the United States. None of this is official; Chevrolet is keeping its lips sealed about the updated Silverado HD. Full details will likely emerge in the coming months, and sales are tentatively scheduled to start in time for the 2023 model year.

Sunday Drive: Spying an automotive future of performance

I spy, with my little eye ... the future of the automotive world here in the United States. That pretty much sums up this week's Sunday Drive, in which we pull out the most popular stories on Autoblog of the previous week and try to draw some sort of conclusion as to what binds them all together. This week, it's spy shots, starting with one of the biggest and baddest muscle cars the world has ever seen: the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. The Hellish coupe gets a new hood for 2019 with dual scoops, but that's about the only meaningful change for the new model year. No matter. As long as it's packing 700-plus horsepower under those two hood scoops, all will be right with the world. Moving on, we take keep the performance angle but move it from the street to the dirt with a new version of the Chevy Colorado ZR2 that we think is probably called the Bison. We think it'll keep the high-tech suspension bits of the regular ZR2, but add expedition gear that may include a snorkel and a winch. Which, if true, is pretty dang cool. Keeping the truck theme is the 2019 GMC Sierra. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the trim level in which the truck was spied, and that's what makes this specific example interesting. Base-model trucks almost never get much attention, but they sell in droves to workers who need an honest-to-goodness truck for work or play and don't care about bells, whistles, or massive chrome badges. And finally we have the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, which is on fire on the sales floor right now. But those are all V6-powered Wranglers flying off the showroom floor. Soon, a turbocharged four-cylinder engine option will become available, and now we know that it will return up to 23 miles per gallon in the city and 25 on the highway. That makes it the most fuel efficient Wrangler that Jeep has ever sold. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog this week for all the automotive news that's fit to publish. 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat with twin-scoop hood spied with no camouflage Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison caught testing 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 spied in base trim level 2018 Jeep Wrangler four-cylinder fuel economy revealed Spy Photos Chevrolet Dodge GMC Jeep Truck Coupe SUV Off-Road Vehicles Performance dodge challenger srt hellcat sunday drive

Hacker jury rigs Amazon Echo into voice-controlled remote start

A lot of automakers have smartphone apps to start, lock, or unlock a connected car. Some automakers will even let you do that with a smartwatch. Then, there's YouTube user Jryanishere, who decided to use Amazon's chatty Echo voice-controlled, internet-connected information thingy. Yes, we said thingy, because we aren't really sure how else to describe the Echo. While the Echo system has received a hearty ad campaign – featuring Alec Baldwin asking Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, questions and ordering socks – we think this might be the first really useful thing we've seen it do. Using a MacBook, a Raspberry Pi, an Echo, an OBDLink plug-in, and his 4G LTE-equipped GMC, Jryanishere has basically made a voice-controlled remote-start system. Now, like so many voice-controlled things, this strikes us more of an extravagance than something that's functionally worthwhile. After all, the remote start on the a GMC keyfob isn't exactly rocket science. You can check out the Echo in action up top. Jryanishere gives a pretty thorough breakdown of how the setup works in the video above, but if you're at all into this sort of technological mischief, you'll want to watch (and check out the hilariously detailed blog explaining the job). Related Video: